Into the Storm, an experimental band from Seattle, are undoubtedly skilled. Most of the riffs are excellent, and Matt Jahn’s leads on songs like “Excalibur III” are pretty inspiring. James Reeves’s drumming, while mixed badly, is clearly solid, and Brant Kay’s bass playing provides some much-needed backing power, seeing as the band only has one guitarist.

Unfortunately, the band has two serious problems:

1. Vocalist Oliver Reeves. His pipes aren’t very powerful; most of the time he just yells in a fairly generic over-the-top manner, and he doesn’t seem to possess a sense of time or rhythm. He is the weakest link in this band.
2. They have a lot of good ideas but can’t articulate them very well.

Allow me to explain further…

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